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University of Pittsburgh Language Guide Advises Students to Avoid Using ‘Ladies and Gentlemen’

University of Pittsburgh Language Guide Advises Students to Avoid Using ‘Ladies and Gentlemen’

“Language guides are not new to college campuses.”

Take note of who is offering suggestions for what you should say instead.

The College Fix reports:

University language guide: avoid term ‘ladies and gentlemen’

The University of Pittsburgh has published a “gender inclusive” and “non-sexist” language guide that advises the campus community to avoid the common expression “ladies and gentlemen.”

Instead, the Office for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion suggests using words such as “colleagues, guests, all, yinz, friends, people, students, folks.” Also on the list of words to avoid: “mankind,” “chairman,” “freshman” and “ombudsman.”

“Instead,” Fox News reports, “the guidelines released by the university department recommended that ‘first year student’ should be used instead of ‘freshman’ and ‘administrator’ should be used instead of ‘secretary/clerk.’”

“In a similar ‘Sexist Language’ guide written by the University of Pittsburgh Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Program, the term ‘stewardess’ is considered ‘Sexist Language’ as well, and the guide recommends that students use ‘flight attendant’ instead.”

Language guides are not new to college campuses.

Earlier this month The College Fix reported on one from the University of Nevada-Reno, which advised the campus community to avoid the term “native Nevadan” when referring to people born in the state because it is “not respectful to Indigenous people who truly are native to the land here in Nevada.”

This past summer, Brandeis University’s language guide suggested avoiding the term “trigger warning”  because it contains the word “trigger.” The student-staffed Prevention, Advocacy and Resource Center at Brandeis University listed the term as “oppressive.”

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Comments

Ladies and gentlemen, this is a load of crap.

The entire corpus of pre-1970 cinema, memory-holed.

The Friendly Grizzly | October 28, 2021 at 3:19 pm

How did they feel about a youz guys?

That are still, to get right to the knob of the problem, use “persons and gentlemen”.

Before long, college kids will have to run all their conversations and written papers through a computer that will convert plain English into PC Newspeak. Maybe the media moguls will translate all the old movies as well.

I thought the term “ombudsman” originated in Sweden in the 1960s. It is a gender neutral term. Perhaps this is just a ruse to prevent University of Pittsburgh students from seeking redress against the overstepping of the Office for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Afterall, if you are not allowed to mention the word “ombudsman” it is very hard to seek the proctection of the ombudsman from the Pitt thought police.